My NHL Re-Alignment Proposal

With the National Hockey League set to vote on a new re-alignment for the 2012-13 season, I figured I’d take this opportunity to chime in with my two cents on what I’d like to see the league do.

So far the rumours I’m hearing sound promising, a four-conference or division split of 7-8 teams per — intra-conference playoffs for the first two rounds and a re-seed of the remaining four clubs for the semis. Call it a conference, call it a division, whatever you want as long as this is the playoff format I support it 100%.

The biggest problem when the NHL switched to the conference playoff system for 1993-94 was the playoff pool became too large, I don’t mean the amount of teams that qualify – that remained the same – I mean the pool of potential playoff matchups/opponents became too large. Pre-1994 a team could face only 1 of 4 other teams through the first two-rounds of the playoffs, rivalries were created quickly and fiercely. The switch in 1994 changed the potential playoff partners from 4 to what is now 14 after a few rounds of expansion since then. The odds of getting the same playoff partner over multiple seasons had diminished considerably.

The elimination of divisions tied to conferences with re-seeding following round two opens the doors for some interesting Stanley Cup final partners, for example Montreal could face New York, or Chicago could face Vancouver, in seasons past those matchups were impossible as those two pairs belonged to the same conference although different divisions. With this set-up as long as the teams aren’t in the same division they could now potentially meet in the Stanley Cup.

That’s the playoff format rumoured, that’s the same playoff format I’m running with in my plan.

As for the league structure, I steered things a little differently…

You get a Norris/Adams hybrid in the Eastern Conference where five of the six Original Six franchises are now housed.

In the Atlantic Conference you get a return of the Patrick Division plus Columbus.

In the Western Conference you have four Canadian clubs merged with three hockey-mad U.S. markets – imagine the rivalries during those playoff rounds.

I do see some problems, namely travel, especially in the Southern Conference who gets a bit of a raw deal in this proposal in that it’s clubs cover four different time zones, a problem Columbus and Detroit had faced for many seasons, but my main focus here was retaining rivalries.

But this setup guarantees at least one southern based club will reach the final four every season (and 4 in the playoffs, 2 in the second round), hopefully growing the interest those markets.

I like everything here except for travel purposes I think Boston and Columbus could switch places. Yet, that would eliminate the possibility of a BOS-MTL playoff match and that’s no good. In the end, Columbus may just have to suck it up and wait for the next re-alignment just like Detroit has done for the past 10 or so years.

I do like the idea however that was brought up on HNIC on Saturday, that once you get to the final 4 in the playoffs then the teams get reseeded 1v4 2v3 regardless of conference.

Schroeds

I think Columbus should be in the East and Boston in the Atlantic.

JustinF

My two cents: Switch Bruins and Pens. The only reason is that Pittsburgh doesn’t touch the coast while Boston does.

Anonymous

How about just switching the Bruins and the Penguins?

Leslie Dicksock

I hope this is a joke. You want to put a team on the East Coast in the same division as teams in the west coast? That would be a 5 hour flight for inter-conference play. On top of that, home-and-homes? Come on.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… so I’d keep the current alignment and just flip-flop Nashville and Winnipeg.

GeoTheo

Four divisions, three of which have eight teams, the last has six teams. All divisions are based on time zones. The Eastern Time Zone has two divisions, the Northeast and Atlantic, The Central Times Zone is the Central Division, and the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones make the Western Division.

I like how that works! I wouldn’t mind having that for the Canucks, either

Jack

I like it a lot, but I still think it would be awesome to have all orig. 6 teams in one division

skater325

that’s a nice lineup, chris. i like it.

Matt J.

I dunno, IMO a Southern Conference with all sunbelt teams would work about as well as a Northern Conference with all Canadian teams; with Anaheim & LA facing Florida & Tampa Bay 6 or 8 times a year, I think the travel would just be too much on the teams.

But this 4-conference thing would make for an interesting All-Star Game if it ever returned to the conference format, like a 2 day, 4-All Star Team tournament or something…

Not bad. The Southern conference is pretty stretched out, but the NHL is not even close to being evenly dispersed across North America so there are going to be some oddball teams in any conference setup.

If the NHL is really wants to shake it up, something I’d like to see is this: 2 conferences, no divisions. 15 teams per conference obviously. You play 2 home/2 away vs. every team in your conference for 56 games. Then 1 home/1 away vs. the other conference for another 30 games. That’s an 86 game regular season, only adds 4 games but is a much more balanced approach. Top 8 teams from each conference make the playoffs. Re-seed after each round. Shorten 1st round to 5 games to make up for the additional regular season games.

I drew up the conferences based on pure geography. The 15 western most teams are in the west, everyone else in the east.

I like this setup. Five of the original six teams in one division. Very smart. The only thing I don’t care for is the separation of the California teams and Columbus is not in the Atlantic. Here are some adjustments I’d make, especially if and when the NHL returns to Quebec and possible expansion or relocation of one or two teams….

Atlantic Conference, swap Columbus with Quebec, especially when Phoenix has to relocate. I know Ohio isn’t technically in the south, but it’s on the way down.

Portland and potentially Seattle would almost certainly be in the Western Conference, in which case San Jose would trade places.

I would still do the same playoff format as is, especially if Montreal and Quebec are in different divisions. I would probably give the conferences different names, but I’m not sure what yet.

Atlantic

Quebec, New Jersey, New York, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, (Hamilton or Hartford or Halifax)

I’m only excluding Phoenix because of the uncertaintly with that franchise. Hamilton, Quebec, Portland, Seattle and Hartford have been talking about potentially getting an NHL team. Halifax may be a long shot at best. If it’s Hamilton, they’ll have to be some way to put them in the same division as Toronto and Buffalo. Minnesota would rekindle that three-way Norris Division rivalry with Detroit, St. Louis and Chicago. Different team, I know but you get the idea.

Perhaps the BOG’s should be reading this idea plus the one originally posted.

Splits original six, three and three. All but South can launch a Canadian winner of the division.

Matt Marczel

I would love for the NHL dose adopt the 4 division system and divisional playoffs with hopes of a not too distant future expansion to 32 teams. (32 = four 8 team divisions) If they do go the 4 division route, they should ditch geographical division and/or coference names altogether and go back to the pre Bettman era names. This would eliminate any confusion.

John B

Not the worst I’ve seen, though the geographical concerns are an issue for me. I’d do a lot of what GeoTheo suggested, with a couple differences and contingencies for teams like the Islanders or Panthers moving.

Atlantic New York R New York I New Jersey Boston Buffalo Montreal Ottawa

Ryan Fields

I like this proposal but the one thing everyone seems to be neglecting is the AMOUNT of teams that make the post-season run for the Stanley Cup. 16 teams make the playoffs, which hasn’t changed since 1979-80 when there were 21 teams in the league. Used to be that only 5 sat out, now you have 14 teams or nearly 1/2 the entire league not qualifying for the playoffs. Something needs to be done to address that situation. I think 20, 22 or 24 teams should qualify.

Ryan

one problem, florida panthers play literally hundreds of miles close to the atlantic than the blue jackets….. i dont like any of this realignment

I like it just the way it is. Who cares if the Jackets are farther away from the ocean than the Panthers? Plus why would you put the Sharks in the Southern? They are like 50 miles from the Pacifica ocean and by no means in the South. However, Bruins and Pens could be switched.

Phoenix, we all know there’s uncertainty and Florida, it all depends on how they do in a few years.

Martin

Phoenix will be in the east next year when they are known as the NORDIQUES!

Douglas

terrible idea with the southern conference, which throws a wrench in the entire thing. Its ridiculous to expect teams in the same division/conference to constantly play games with 3 hours difference, or that varied of a time difference (sometimes it will just be 2 hours, which is still ridiculous).

Grahon

Perfect. If you were to make three 7 team conferences and one 9 team I think it would make more sense. Maybe Pacific, Western, Eastern, and Atlantic Conferences?

Gray

If you were to divide them up like that you’d also have to balance the playoff spots. All those pathetic teams in the Southern Conference wouldn’t deserve more than one playoff spot, and the Eastern Conference need more spots added.

Clark

Interesting. Obviously it’s all of the travel that they are going away from though. You might like mine better:

This isn’t bad. But now the million dollar question, how to potentially get Quebec into the picture? If the Coyotes moved to either Portland or Seattle, staying in that division would be easy. Two Florida teams in the same conference as Boston, Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa? Not a bad idea, but I think they would’ve been better with either of the two ideas I proposed. Mind you, if Florida ever relocated to Quebec or maybe Hamilton, that wouldn’t be much of an issue. If it’s potentially Houston or Kansas City or dare I say it Milwaukee, they’d just have to swap conferences with Columbus. Tampa Bay and Florida (depending how they do in a few years) probably should be in the same conference as Carolina for geographical purposes. Or if Phoenix moves to Quebec and Florida moves to Seattle or Portland, they could just swap conferences. Well, you get the picture.

Chris J.

Just flip flop Columbus and Boston and book a flight to Pebble Beach and bam! Best one yet

Chris J.

I’ll take that back, a Southeastern conference is impossible, three time zones represent the central, somewhat geographically incorrect, and travel wise would be poor.

GKennedy

I love the eastern conference, with 5 or the 6 original six teams there are and will be some great rivalries

Brian Rightley

Add Hartford and Quebec into the other conference that have 7 teams. I know it won’t happen since they don’t want to add more teams, but itll be cool. Thanks for website with logos chris!

Aaron

If expansion/relocation comes to the NHL, realignment will have to happen again. Maybe not as radical as it is right now.

Minnesota does NOT belong in the western conference. Only one conference rival (Winnipeg) in the same timezone?

And the Southern Conference would never pass either as it consists of teams in three different timezones. The NHL is not the NFL where you only play one game/week.

Obviously I am biased as a Minnesota fan, but it bothers me when so many people think that Minnesota “fits” into the west and/or northwest when they are much closer to teams like Chicago, St. Louis Detroit and Winnipeg. I remember the days of the North Stars very well in the old Norris Division with some great rivals in Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis.

Minnesota is one of the biggest winners in the new realignment and the NHL got it right! Can’t wait for the 2012-2013 season to begin.

Aaron

Two more possibilities

Proposal 3 same as Proposal 1, but Conference B would include either Milwaukee or Kansas City swapping with Columbus going to Conference C. Probably KC because they have a new arena.

Proposal 4 same as Proposal 2, only Conference C would include both Quebec and Hamilton and Tampa Bay would be in Conference D.

Greg

I actually like the real alignment that was voted on more (as a Leafs fan it makes for an easier division)

Als with the real realignment it allows for Phoenix to eventually move to Quebec City

This is so inaccurate why put Detroit st. Louis and Chicago in the eastern conference put them in the west conference and let it sit. each teams plays another team in a .different conference 3 times at home, away, home, and in the conference each teams plays a diffrent team in the conference 6 times -NHL Insider

Dave

Why anyone is bringing up teams that don’t even exist is beyond me. By far the best format is by NBitterman (I would only switch Dallas and Minnesota though). It geographically makes sense and it keeps the current playoff structure the same. I like having the different playoff match ups every year and it allows some surprise teams. With the new system, I just see a conference getting 4 dominate teams and the other 3 or 4 teams never have a chance to crack the playoffs and you get really good teams that face each other too early in the playoffs.

Blake

The travel schedule would be brutal for the Southern Conference, especially for Dallas and Nashville.

James

So how is the all-star game going to workout? A 4 conference tournament?

That is a really good question : How is the all-star game going to work? I personally love the idea of a mini-tournament of all the best players in the leagues. Anyways I love your proposal. And personally I liked it better when there was a rivalry going on however I felt like some of the teams were being held back by the fact that each year they had to play the same team. Just my thoughts.

Aaron

It only seems like certain teams are being put there that don’t exist, but we all know there are certain teams (Phoenix, Florida) who struggling. The non-NHL cities mentioned (Portland, Seattle, Quebec, Hamilton, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Houston) all seem to potentially house an NHL team.

Cedric Baker

This realignment would be the perfect opportunity to restore the original conference and division names, creating some two new ones to create three five team divisions. My model would look like this:

Prince of Wales Conference (East)

Adams Division (Northeast) Boston Buffalo Montreal Ottawa Toronto

Patrick Division (Atlantic) Long Island New Jersey New York Philadelphia Washington

Someone had an idea for going back to Smythe/Patrick/Wales, etc, etc…I kinda liked that idea. ON the other hand, East/West, Atlantic/Northwest is a lot easier to remember

Blitz

It’s a nice thought, however having T-Bay & Anaheim in the same conference is a jet-lag nightmare… not to mention the TV time zone differences… gotta be north-south unfortunately

Dave

I understand they are hockey markets and Florida, Phoenix, Dallas etc. are struggling, but the reality is none of this relocation or expansion isn’t happening for the upcoming season. So really its all just fantasy some of these realignment scenarios. The more I look at the one that got approved by the NHL, the more I’m okay with it. I like the new regular season structure with everyone playing each other twice, but I’m not liking the playoff scenario they are proposing. The way it is laid out for next season does give them room to relocate a team out west to the east quite easily.

Luis Santiago

Chris, Love the website, as I am not only a huge sports buff, but a lover of logos as I am practicing designer/artist. Here goes my realignment proposal. Keep in mind the return of the Campbell and Wales Conferences, with three divisions in each. I modeled my proposal after Major League Baseball with its three divisions, and the NFL, with its overall interleague play. I know I will get hammered for ruining rivalries, but, what the hell.

1> It’s based on the Phoenix situation and the fact that Quebec City wants back in the NHL.

2> This way it would leave two sides with an 7/8 team format which seems to make sense right now.

Gordon Long

I think they’ll wait some time before trying to expand with new franchises, and merely allow some relocations. Even though the league brags about its stability during the Original Six era, in reality, for about half of that era, the league was hanging on. It needed to be stable before they could think about adding franchises, but it’s been rather a rather haphazard process ever since the Second Six joined the league. The two-a-year process of the early 70s was a good idea, but because they were also fighting the WHA for two of those expansions, the best laid plans fell apart…

For the most part, I like your bold plan for realignment, especially the Southern Conference. To pull that one off, the league would have to line the schedule up like the NBA sometimes does with trips through the Texas Triangle (Dallas, Houston, San Antonio) or the California Four (Golden State, Sacramento, Los Angeles x2). In fact, it would seem that they should build the league’s schedule around the Southern Conference. since Bettman is so eager to grow the new markets of the Sunbelt. Start the travelers in South Florida and hop westward to the Pacific. Eight games in fifteen days–one tenth of the season–for the Atlantic, Eastern, and Western teams.

The only thing I don’t like from your plan, and agree with others, is to swap out Boston and Columbus.

I have four plans of my own. The first one is a ‘simple’ realignment.

National Hockey League–Two conference/Six division format

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division: Boston, Montreal, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers Retains three of the Original 6; keeps Boston-Montreal, Boston-New York, and NJ-NYI-NYR rivalries red-hot.

Capitol Division: Buffalo, Columbus, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington Has three capitols–current US in Washington and former US in Philly, plus state of Ohio in Columbus; retains Philly-Pitt, Philly-Wash, and Buff-Pitt rivalries, enhances Col-Pitt rivalry.

Southern Division: Carolina, Dallas, Florida, Nashville, Tampa Bay The most spread of the East divisions, but everyone is in one of Bettman’s prize markets; will help Nashville-Carolina rivalry grow.

Western Conference

Northern Division: Chicago, Detroit, Ottawa, St. Louis, Toronto Natural counterpart to the Southern Division; big division; has the other three of the Original 6, reuniting Toronto with their fellow western teams Chicago and Detroit while maintaining Toronto-Ottawa and Chicago-St. Louis rivalries.

Northwest Division: Calgary, Edmonton, Minnesota, Vancouver, Winnipeg. Restores the classic Western Canada rivalries dating back to the 1920s (before the NHL became sole possessor for the Stanley Cup), as well as the Minn-Winn rivalry.

Southwest Division: Anaheim, Colorado, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose. These cities have been regional rivals since the Sixties in all the sports, and Southern Cal-Bay Area is more than 100 years old.

Three more proposals coming up…

Gordon Long

Proposal #2, based on what the league is moving to.

National Hockey League–Four conference format Northeast Conference: Boston, Montreal, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Ottawa, Toronto Continues Boston-Montreal, Boston-New York, Ottawa-Toronto, and Montreal-Toronto rivalries. Admittedly breaks up the NYI-NYR-NJ rivaly in the expectation that a Coyotes shift to Toronto, Hamilton, or Quebec is most likely (or even Rochester, LOL).

Southeast Conference: Carolina, Florida, Nashville, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Washington. Retains existing Southeast rivalries plus adds the long-overdue Carolina-Nashville one, keeps Phil-Pitt and Phil-Wash, and enhances NJ-Phil but because NJ is in the NY area will draw NYI/NYR fans to see Ovechkin and Crosby.

Western Conference: Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver. Retains all existing rivalries. Allows a Phoenix franchise shift to Portland, San Francisco/Oakland, San Diego, or Salt Lake City without altering league structure.

In the event of a Coyotes shift to Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Kansas City, or Houston, Colorado can trade divisions with the Coyotes franchise easily.

I’m one of those who prefers geographic names to the named-for divisions/conferences. I paid attention to the NBA first…and so the geographically-named divisions feel right. (You can’t imagine how incredibly negative I feel towards the Big Ten’s Legends and Leaders divisions!!!) However, I do appreciate the historical appreciations that the NHL has towards its founders. To that end, I would forge trophies for the six classic names. The divisional playoff winner in the Central Conference gets the Norris trophy, the divisional playoff winner in the Western Conference gets the Smythe trophy, and the semifinal playoff winner between the Central and Western Conferences gets the Campbell Cup. Similarly, the Northeast winner gets the Adams trophy and the Atlantic winner gets the Patrick trophy, while the Northeast-vs.-Atlantic champion gets the Wales Cup.

Gordon Long

Proposal #3: Based on a recommendation, probably sarcastic, I saw on Yahoo responses to the realignment by coming up with a three-conference proposal!

The only way to divide the league evenly into three conferences was to add three US teams to the Canadian teams. There is a precedent for this when the NFL merged with the AFL, three NFL teams joined the AFL teams in the new AFC. Previously, when the NFL absorbed three teams from the AAFC, it briefly used American and National conferences before reverting to Eastern and Western divisions. The WHA used East, West, and Canadian divisions in the 1974-75 and 75-76 seasons. And most importantly, the NHL had American and Canadian divisions (the latter of which had 4 Canadian teams and the NY Americans, which were formerly the Hamilton Tigers, and in one season, the St. Louis Eagles, formerly the Ottawa Senators) from 1926-27 through 1937-38, after which time the Montreal Maroons folded and reduced the league to a single seven-team division. New Jersey was placed here as it was the third New York-area team, and Columbus and Nashville have not had substantial major league existences in any sports until the 1990s. Has two of the Original Six.

Extensive presences for these squads in the NFL/NFC, the NL, and the NBA (allowing for San Jose to represent San Francisco). Has three of the Original Six. Retains important rivalries for Phil-Pitt, Chi-Det, NY-LA (cooled since Gretzky retired), Chi-StL, LA-SJ, LA-Phnx.

One more proposal coming up!

Gordon Long

The playoff structure in the three-conference league: Six division winners, ten at-large teams. At-larges #7 and 8 have home-ice advantage in the first round. Re-seed playoffs after every round.

Make all best of seven series follow the NBA Finals format of 2-3-2: 2 games in the city with home ice advantage, up to three if necessary in the other city, and then up to 2 more if necessary in the home-ice winner’s city. This idea is to decrease the travel that follows in the traditional 2-2-1-1-1 that the NBA uses in earlier rounds, and that the NHL uses in all rounds. The 2-3-2 is adapted originally from baseball, who used it first in the World Series, then added it to the League Championship Series and then to the Divisional Playoff Round.

The comments from above about American or National Conference cities still apply. This has the beauty of locking the Canadian teams into one division (many people have accused Bettman of wanting just that!)–or horror. The World Conference cities is ‘named’, if you will, after the World Hockey Assocation (and lesserly, there was also a World Football League in the 1970s). Carolina (Charlotte), Florida, and Tampa Bay were in the WFL. The WHA included as member cities Minnesota and New Jersey, and there were phantom teams in Florida (Miami) and the Bay Area (San Francisco). Ohio had teams in Cleveland and Cincinnati in the WHA and now has Columbus. Nashville isn’t that far from Birmingham, a one-time WHA member. And finally….the Hurricanes franchise, before it transferred to Carolina, once called the WHA home, playing as the New England Whalers first in Boston and then Springfield Massachusetts, and then in Hartford before the shift to Raleigh.

Because the conferences are much different in proposal #4 than in #2, I think you’d have to go with a whole different set of trophy names for the divisional playoff winners. American: Orr (Bobby Orr, of Boston). Canadian: Richard (Maurice “The Rocket” Richard, of Montreal). National: Howe (Gordie Howe, of Detroit). World: Hull (Bobby Hull, of the WHA). These are probably the four biggest hockey names between 1945 and 1980. Then let the World and National champs play semifinals for the Lemieux Cup (Mario Lemieux, of Pittsburgh in the National), and the American and Canadian champs for the Gretzky Cup (Wayne Gretzy, of Edmonton in the Canadian). They are the two most important names in the league between 1979 and 2000. Sorry I couldn’t find room for goalie names…

Aaron

Here’s a different proposal I have for the re-alignment situation with expansion…

Wales Conference

North

Toronto Buffalo Pittsburgh Columbus

East

Montreal Quebec Ottawa Boston

Atlantic

Philadelphia New York New York New Jersey

South-Atlantic

Washington Carolina Florida Tampa Bay

Campbell Conference

Central

Detroit Chicago St. Louis Minnesota

Midwest

Winnipeg Nashville Kansas City or Houston Dallas

West

Los Angeles Anaheim San Jose Colorado

Northwest-Pacific

Vancouver Portland or Seattle Calgary Edmonton

I’m just speaking the truth

Won’t work. I like the idea but it’s a time zone problem, hence why Detroit wants into the Eastern Conference.

The southern conference spans across 4 time zones.

Matt

My pick and I think easiest thing would be to move Nashville to Atlanta’s old division and move Winnipeg to the Central. Easy. Simple. No major changes!